Investment Management

Myra Tabor (FCA, MBA)

Myra founded Cognis in 2003 is the CEO & CIO.

Myra’s strategy and vision for Cognis was seeded in 1996 while in the work-out group of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) where she advised on non-performing loans and was an Investment Manager of a secondary debt fund. Subsequently, Myra formed the RBS Special Investments Group investing in special situations, distressed debt and event driven credit. At RBS she was a Managing Director within Structured Finance, sitting on the Board of the division and also representing RBS as a non-executive director of STAR Capital Partners.

She has sat on creditors committees and has been involved in complex innovative financial restructurings. Post investment she has sat on company boards assisting with vision and strategy to drive the turnaround, where appropriate; growth (organic and acquisitions) and exit for the business, gaining industry awards.

Prior to RBS, Myra worked as an advisor to the World Bank in Africa on a privatisation initiative in Zambia (MBOs, partial flotations, re-financings and international tenders) and as an Investment Manager 3i, the then largest VC and PE house.in Australia  Myra's professional formative years were spent in the Corporate Finance division of Touche Ross, London  where she gained further experience in private equity (structuring and capital raisings) and M and A; having joined the nascent venture capital market post business school.

Myra received her MBA from the London Business School and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Simon Jones (MA, ACA)

Simon joined Cognis in 2009 and is a partner of the firm.

Simon sits on Cognis' Credit Committee across all of the firm's funds and covers the full range of strategies from stressed high yield credit through to distressed and non-performing loans, restructurings and special situations.

Prior to Cognis, Simon was a director of the London based financial and operational restructuring boutique, Talbot Hughes McKillop, which he joined at its inception in 2001.  Whilst at THM, he specialised in advising both investors and company boards in stressed, distressed and special situations.  He has been involved with some of the most complex operational and financial restructuring assignments in recent years and has experience across a number of European jurisdictions, the Far East and South East Asia.  Prior to THM, he was a director in Andersen’s Corporate Recovery practice specialising in advising senior lenders in their exposures to distressed companies.

Simon’s 20+ years experience of working with financially and operationally challenged companies and their stakeholders has given him a strong understanding of the fundamental drivers of business performance as well as a critical insight into the dynamics between the investors at various levels in companies’ capital structures.

Simon is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and graduated with an MA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

Paul Arwas

Paul joined Cognis Capital as an advisor in 2018.

Paul's recent focus is on venture companies in IoT and cleantech. He has worked closely with eight venture companies in the last five years to develop business plans, raise funds and accelerate commercial development, and with financiers to restructure funds and conduct company due diligence.

Paul has accumulated over a decade of experience assessing technologies and advising on government policy across renewables, bio-energy, fuel cells, energy efficiency and building technologies, including acting as an expert reviewer for the IEA.

Paul was a senior Partner and Vice President at Arthur D Little in charge of the European Chemicals Practice and prior to that worked for Exxon in a range of production and technical roles.

Paul has a B Eng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London and an MBA from the London Business School.